Following the fall of the Melaka Sultanate to the Portuguese in 1511, the sultanates of Johor and Aceh emerged as major trading centres alongside Portuguese Melaka, and the peculiar balance among the three powers was an important feature of political and economic life in the Straits of Melaka throughout the 16th century. Using contemporary Portuguese sources, Paulo Pinto analyses the financial, political, economic, and military institutions that underlay this triangular arrangement, which persisted because no one power could achieve an undisputed hegemony. The author also considers the position of Melaka in the Malay World, where it remained a symbolic centre of Malay civilization and a model of Malay political authority despite changes associated with Portuguese rule.

The Author

Paulo Jorge de Sousa Pinto is a researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Oriental Studies (School of Human Sciences, Catholic University of Portugal)

Contents

List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1: Melaka and the Estado da Índia: The Economic Backdrop
Chapter 2: Melaka and the Estado da Índia: The Political and Military Framework
Chapter 3: Melaka and the Geopolitics of the Straits
Chapter 4: Portuguese and Malays
Chapter 5: The City of Melaka

Conclusion

Annex I: The Sultanate of Johore: Genealogical Questions and Problems
Annex II: The Sultanate of Aceh: Genealogical Questions and Problems
Captains of Melaka (1567-1620)
Viceroys and Governors of India (1564-1622)
Maps
Document Appendix
Glossary
Bibliography
Index